Them
by sixpointtwoeight
Summary: If Spirit can convince Stein to propose to Marie, well, then...


Stein nervously attacked an animal with a knife; furiously dissecting it until it was split up into several pieces, spread across his and Marie's kitchen table.

He thought of the conversation that he had had with Spirit that day:

"_When are you getting married to Marie?" Spirit had asked._

"_I'm not," Stein hesitantly replied after a brief pause._

"_Yes you are. You love her. Trust me, I would know,"_

"_It didn't end well with you and Kami, did it?"_

_At that point in the conversation, Spirit burst into tears. "Maka… papa loves you and mama more than anything in the world…"_

"_I'm not Maka." Stein coolly said. Spirit smiled._

"_You have to marry her, you know. She's driving herself crazy, just waiting for you."_

"_Fine. I'll propose tonight." Stein finally gave into Spirit's peer pressure._

Looking back on that exchange that had happened only several hours before, Stein realized that he would of wanted to marry Marie even if Spirit hadn't pressured him to.

After all, Spirit _was_ right: he really did love her.

* * *

><p>Marie carefully adjusted her eyepatch. Stein asked her- very nervously; she might add- to have dinner together that night.<p>

She applied another coat of shiny pink lip gloss, the kind of stuff that she wore in high school, when she first liked Stein, _hoping_ that he would notice. She _did_ really like him. _If only he felt the same way_, thought Marie.

At about eight that night, she walked to their kitchen table, where traces of dissected animals remained.

A minute later, Stein sat down with him. "Um… what's for dinner?" Marie smiled, praying that it wasn't the dissected animal.

The doorbell rang. "Hey, Stein, I'm here!" a familiar voice said.

_Oh no, NOT him,_ Stein thought.

"I have the pizza you ordered-" the voice opened the door. Standing there was Spirit, hair in a ponytail, in an apron advertising some pizza restaurant, holding two boxes of pizza and a six pack of beer.

"Yes. Thank you, Spirit." Stein calmly replied.

"So, have ya asked her yet?" Spirit asked. Stein shook his head.

"Well, I'll just wait here."

_Great. Now, not only does Marie probably know that I'm going to propose, but SPIRIT WILL BE HERE. WATCHING ME PROPOSE._ Stein thought.

A few awkward pieces of pizza later, Marie nervously tucked a lock of golden hair behind here ear. "Franken?" she asked.

"Yes?" Stein replied.

"I have something to say." Marie stood up.

"So do I… actually, you go first…"

"I really like you, Franken."

Stein smiled.

"But you- you even sometimes act like I DON'T EXIST. You're always dissecting something, or talking to _SPIRIT_, or…" a tear escaped Marie's eye, smearing a layer of eyeliner and mascara.

"Why… why can't you just like me?" she screamed. "Do you want to know WHY I even where my eyepatch? It's because of _you_." Marie ripped off the black and gold eyepatch. "When I was in high school… I loved you. I really loved you, Franken… and I actually _WANTED_ you to dissect me or something."

Stein looked really confused. Never before had someone wanted to be dissected.

"You know _why_? Because that means that you would _NOTICE_ me. So, I put it on, thinking that you might dissect me because you knew that I would have something to cover the scars with…" Marie choked back a sob. "I love you Franken! I just wished that you would love me back! It's like you're married to your work or something…"

Stein looked at the smear of mascara and eyeliner under both of Marie's eyes. _I love you too,_ he wanted to say. He glanced at Spirit. He was quietly laughing. "Shut up, Spirit!" Marie cried. "YOU actually know how it feels like- with Kami and Maka! You don't need to _laugh_."

Stein dropped down to one knee. "Marie, will you-" he paused, turning the screw in his head a few times- "marry me?"

"You did it! You asked her!" Spirit drunkenly cheered.

Marie didn't even yell at Spirit for the moment. Instead, she leaned down and kissed Stein. "Yes,"

* * *

><p>That night, Marie moved into Stein's bedroom.<p>

She had never actually been in there before. It was Stein's _alone_ place- where he would go when he wanted to dissect something on his own, or get away from Spirit for a minute.

"Franken?" Marie said.

"Yes?"

"Why did you propose? It wasn't because of me, or Spirit- gosh, I _hope_ it wasn't because of Spirit, that would have been awful…"

Stein smiled. "It's because I love you, Marie. Not because of Spirit, not because of what you told me earlier today…"

Marie smiled. "Okay, so Spirit _did_ pressure me into asking you tonight, and what you said definitely played into it, but… Marie, I was planning on asking you _anyway._"

A tear ran out of Marie's eye, the one usually sealed by an eyepatch.

"What is it?" Stein asked.

"I'm just so happy. You know how I've dreamed of getting married for a long time… I'll finally be able to retire, start a family… everything that I've ever wanted to do."


End file.
